Critics like first Oddball appearances

Here’s some of how the media have reacted to Sarah’s comedy on the 2014 Oddball Comedy and Curiosity Festival tour:

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The show kicked into high gear when Sarah Silverman took the stage. She covered a lot of cringe-worthy territory in her 20 minutes — rape, domestic abuse, abortion — and demonstrated a remarkable ability to nimbly skewer both sides of an issue. She quickly corrected herself after referring to NRA people as NPR people — “totally different tote bags” — and noted that she supports a woman’s right to choose as well as protesters’ right to free speech: “What’s my point? Oh yeah, I’m great.”

Sarah Silverman delivered a scabrous routine that linked empty sex first to physical deformities and then to the Almighty. Like her attire (blue jeans shorts over heavy black leggings), there was something awkward about Silverman’s stage manner. She apologized for the stops and starts in her monologue, during which she frequently consulted a sheet of prompts. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m so high. Back to abortion . . ..” Shock value is a big part of Silverman’s shtick. She’s got a sweet, good-girl face (well, except for that shiner she was sporting Saturday night, which she tried to pass off as a basketball injury) out of which pours the most perverse, inappropriate, and smutty humor this side of Bob Saget.